a. Field of the Invention
The instant disclosure relates to deflectable and steerable elongate devices, such as medical catheters. In particular, the instant disclosure relates to a family of such devices having portions formed using electroforming techniques, including bendable and stretchable pleated or bellows-like regions, partial and entire shaft portions, and the like.
b. Background Art
Deflectable and steerable elongate devices such as catheters are used for an ever-growing number of medical, industrial, and manufacturing procedures. For example, in the case of the former, catheters are used for diagnostic, therapeutic, and ablative procedures, to name just a few examples. A catheter can be manipulated through a patient's vasculature to a portion of targeted tissue or other intended site, for example, a site within or near the patient's heart or other organ or location within a body. A catheter typically carries one or more energy emitting elements (e.g., electrodes, hyperthermic ablation elements, cryogenic elements, etc.), which may be used for tissue ablation, diagnosis, or the like. Some catheters perform only passive or diagnostic functions such as sensing the electrical waveforms of a beating heart.
An important aspect of any catheter procedure is good contact between the catheter and the targeted tissue of an organ or other location in the body. Accordingly, it is desirable for a catheter to have a flexible tip portion such that the catheter can bend and increase its contact area to tissue.